One of the most hazardous situations a flight crew can face is a fire while the aircraft is airborne. Without aggressive intervention by the flight crew and/or fire-suppression system installed on the aircraft, an onboard fire during flight can lead to a catastrophic loss of the aircraft within a very short time. Today, many of the cargo containers used on aircraft have fire-suppression systems to deal with a fire that may occur in one or more of the cargo containers. Such fire-suppression systems typically disperse an extinguishing agent (e.g., liquefied gas) such as Halon 1211, Halon 1301, or combination thereof to suppress the fire.
In many instances, it is helpful to notify the crew of the aircraft quickly when a fire is detected and the fire-suppression system has discharged. This is because another tactic typically employed if a fire is detected on an aircraft during flight is to land the aircraft as-soon-as-possible. Therefore, a need exists in the art for an improved system and method for notifying the crew when a fire is detected in one or more cargo containers during flight.